Will the recent Democrat SCANDALS have a boomerang effect at the polls in NOV?

Top 10 Democrat Sex Scandals in Congress
10/03/2006
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=17357

Information compiled from the Washington Post, “Congressional Sex Scandals in History,” and other sources.

10. Sen. Daniel Inouye. The 82-year-old Hawaii Democrat was accused in the 1990s by numerous women of sexual harassment. Democrats cast doubt on the allegations and the Senate Ethics Committee dropped its investigation.

9. Former Rep. Gus Savage. The Illinois Democrat was accused of fondling a Peace Corps volunteer in 1989 while on a trip to Africa. The House Ethics Committee decided against disciplinary action in 1990.


8. Rep. Barney Frank. The outspoken Massachusetts Democrat hired a male prostitute who ran a prostitution service from Frank’s residence in the 1980s. Only two Democrats in the House of Representatives voted to censure him in 1990.

7. Former Sen. Brock Adams. The late Washington Democrat was forced to stop campaigning after numerous accusations of drugging, assault and rape, the first surfacing in 1988.

6. Former Rep. Fred Richmond. This New York Democrat was arrested in 1978 for soliciting sex from a 16-year-old. He remained in Congress and won re-election—before eventually resigning in 1982 after pleading guilty to tax evasion and drug possession.

5. Former Rep. John Young. The late Texas Democrat increased the salary of a staffer after she gave in to his sexual advances. The congressman won re-election in 1976 but lost two years later.

4. Former Rep. Wayne Hays. The late Ohio Democrat hired an unqualified secretary reportedly for sexual acts. Although he resigned from Congress, the Democratic House leadership stalled in removing him from the Administration Committee in 1976.

3. Former Rep. Gerry Studds. He was censured for sexual relationship with underage male page in 1983. Massachusetts voters returned him to office for six more terms.

2. Former Rep. Mel Reynolds. The Illinois Democrat was convicted of 12 counts of sexual assault with a 16-year-old. President Bill Clinton pardoned him before leaving office.

1. Sen. Teddy Kennedy. The liberal Massachusetts senator testified in defense of nephew accused of rape, invoking his family history to win over the jury in 1991.

_______________________________________________




DEMOCRAT SCANDALS: Corruption On The Rise
http://www.conservative-politics-infofind.com/DEMOCRATSCANDAL...

April 5, 2010

BARNEY FRANK'S LATEST SCANDAL

JUDICIAL WATCH

Frank Lobbied Regulators to Shake Loose a $12 million TARP Grant for Troubled Boston-Based Bank Located in His Congressional District; California Rep. Maxine Waters, Whose Husband Served on OneUnited’s Board of Directors, Also Intervened

Contact Information:Press Office 202-646-5172, ext 305

Washington, DC -- March 31, 2010

Excerpts:

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that new documents suggest Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) personally called former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson regarding a cash infusion from the government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) for the Boston-based OneUnited Bank. On November 25, 2008, following Frank’s intervention, the Treasury Department awarded $12,063,000 in bailout funds to OneUnited, which is located in Frank’s district. According to the Wall Street Journal, Frank publicly admitted he spoke to a “federal regulator” regarding OneUnited, but “he didn’t remember which federal regulator he spoke with.”

The documents, obtained by Judicial Watch in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed against Treasury, include correspondence between Frank and Treasury as well as internal Treasury emails referencing attempts by Frank and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), whose husband, Sidney Williams, served on the OneUnited Board of Directors, to intervene on behalf of the Massachusetts Bank. Williams resigned shortly after Waters approached federal regulators regarding the OneUnited TARP grant.

An October 17, 2008, email from former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Banking and Finance King Mueller to former Assistant Treasury Secretary Neel Kashkari and other Treasury officials references the contact between Frank and Paulson:

“Just spoke w/ Jim [Segel] in BF's [Barney Frank’s] office. This is about One United Bank (a minority owned bank in BF's district). Maxine Waters is interested in the bank as well, Treas[ury] and others met w/ them (minority bankers assoc) last month per the Water's request. They were a big holder in f/f preferred. BF is interested and may call HMP [Henry Paulson] again about this. FDIC is their primary federal regulator.”[Emphasis added.]

Full article JUDICIAL WATCH

Democrat Scandals March 17, 2010

Clinton Appointed Judge Impeached For Corruption, Massive Bribery

JUDICIAL WATCH

House Impeaches Bribed Fed Judge

Fri, 03/12/2010 - 3:56pm

Excerpts:

A crooked Louisiana federal judge who took bribes from lawyers to pay off gambling debts has become the 15th in the nation’s history to be impeached by the House of Representatives for “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

Removing a federal judge from his or her lifetime position is a tough feat that requires overwhelming evidence of wrongdoing yet this case was a virtual slam dunk. For years U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Portreous took money and valuable gifts from attorneys with cases before him and he hid assets, filed for bankruptcy under a bogus name and defied a bankruptcy court’s order relating to credit.

His many transgressions were discovered during an FBI investigation of state judges in New Orleans’s Jefferson Parish, where Portreous served until Bill Clinton named him to the federal bench in 1994. During a lengthy criminal probe, Porteous offered incriminating information relating to the broad judicial misconduct investigation and he was subsequently suspended from hearing cases though he continues collecting his $174,000 annual salary.

Full article Judicial Watch

Democrat Scandals February 10, 2010

WASHINGTON POST

Fred Hiatt

Feb. 10, 2010

Why is Obama killing off D.C.'s voucher program?

Excerpts:

The Obama administration said it was going to respect science and respond to evidence -- a contrast, many Democrats said, to the previous regime. So why is President Obama killing off the program that offers the best chance to find out if school vouchers work?

Congress has been paying for the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, which helps more than a thousand District children attend private schools. It gives a chance of a future to children who otherwise would be condemned to attend failing schools. How can that be bad?

Generally, opponents offer two arguments. One is that it won't solve the whole problem. Well, no. That's why everyone should support what Chancellor Michelle Rhee is trying to do to improve all D.C. schools. But even she supports the scholarship program. She testified before the Senate last September that until her reforms have had a few more years to take root, she can't guarantee a quality education to every District child. No wonder that every year there have been many more applicants for the vouchers than vouchers to give out.

Full article Fred Hiatt Washington Post

Democrat Scandals November 26, 2009

DEMOCRAT PARTY AND PREZ OBAMA'S POLICIES KEEP BLACK TEEN UNEMPLOYMENT AT 34.5%

Nov. 24, 2009

Jobless Rate for Young Black Men: 34.5%

Washington Post:

Tough Economy Has Hit 16-to-24-Year-Old Black Men Especially Hard

This story was written by V. Dion Haynes.

These days, 24-year-old Delonta Spriggs spends much of his time cooped up in his mother's one-bedroom apartment in Southwest Washington, the TV blaring soap operas hour after hour, trying to stay out of the streets and out of trouble, held captive by the economy. As a young black man, Spriggs belongs to a group that has been hit much harder than any other by unemployment.

These days, 24-year-old Delonta Spriggs spends much of his time cooped up in his mother's one-bedroom apartment in Southwest Washington, the TV blaring soap operas hour after hour, trying to stay out of the streets and out of trouble, held captive by the economy. As a young black man, Spriggs belongs to a group that has been hit much harder than any other by unemployment.

Joblessness for 16-to-24-year-old black men has reached Great Depression proportions -- 34.5 percent in October, more than three times the rate for the general U.S. population. And last Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that unemployment in the District, home to many young black men, rose to 11.9 percent from 11.4 percent, even as it stayed relatively stable in Virginia and Maryland

Excerpts:

Full article V. Dion Haynes Washington Post

Democrat Scandals November 16, 2009

ACORN'S Latest Scandal--Today Nov. 16, 2009 to air on Sean Hannity 6PM EST.

Promises To Be A Beauty

Democrat Scandals November 15, 2009

Today's IRS Tax Tip



The Times-Picayune

William Jefferson's judgment day: An editorial

By Editorial page staff, The Times-Picayune

November 13, 2009, 6:30PM

Excerpts:

Former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson was sentenced to 13 years in prison Friday for the 11 counts of corruption for which he was found guilty in U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III's courtroom last summer.

That's a fitting punishment for a disgraced former official whose conduct the judge described as "a cancer on the body politic.''

New Orleans needed effective representation in Congress more urgently than ever after Hurricane Katrina. But Mr. Jefferson, whose Washington, D.C., home was raided by federal agents three and a half weeks before the storm, was mired in his own legal troubles during that critical time. The accusations against him reinforced the negative stereotyopes about Louisiana as a bed of political corruption at a time when people from elsewhere were looking for reasons not to come to our aid.

Full article The Times-Picayune

Democrat Scandals October 14, 2009

The Washington Times

Rep. Darrell Issa

Mozilo's friends on the Hill

Democrats block probe of Countrywide scandal

By Rep. Darrell Issa

Oct. 13, 2009

Angelo Mozilo has lots of friends. Or at least, he used to. The former chief executive of Countrywide Financial now faces a series of federal lawsuits, including one brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission for fraud and insider trading. Suddenly, some of the most powerful Washington politicians are eschewing the shameful appellation "Friend of Angelo."

Back in the early 1990s, when Countrywide was climbing to the top of the mortgage industry, Mr. Mozilo was looking to make friends on Capitol Hill. According to documents obtained by congressional oversight investigators, these key VIPs were afforded preferential and personalized treatment, including specially priced home mortgage loans at below-market rates. This generosity was not limited to elected officials but was extended as well to select congressional staff members, administration officials and Washington lobbyists.

Democrat Scandals

In his aggressive pursuit of market dominance, Mr. Mozilo tried to make friends everywhere, especially among people who had a primary responsibility to craft legislation and oversee government enterprises with a stake in the U.S. housing market.

In March 2009, the minority staff of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform produced a detailed, 63-page report that analyzed Countrywide's VIP program and Mr. Mozilo's successful scheme to buy political influence and manipulate public policy decisions.

Full article Rep. Darrell Issa Washington Times

Democrat Scandals October 12, 2009

BIGGOVERNMENT.COM

Fool Me Hundreds of Times: Who Gets to Clean Up ACORN?

by Mike Flynn

Excerpts:

Imagine: In the days following the public revelations of the accounting scandal at Enron, then-CEO Ken Lay convened a news conference. He forcefully expressed his disgust with the actions of his subordinates and vowed to begin “cleaning house” at the company. Taking a few turns to slam the company’s critics and the reporters who had uncovered the scandal, he stressed that, this time, there would be a thorough revamp of the company. He even said that people would be fired! Reassured, reporters, lawmakers and regulators shrugged and went back to their daily lives.

Substitute Bertha Lewis for Ken Lay and ACORN for Enron, in this hypothetical situation, and you’ll have a pretty good idea of what was asked of us at Lewis’ tour-de-force theatrical performance at the National Press Club earlier this week. She alternated between attacking her critics, expressing disgust with the actions of her employees caught on tape by James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles and vowing to pursue a lawsuit against the filmmakers for capturing on film her employees’ misdeeds. Oh, and by the way, she really, really—she means it this time—intends to “clean house” at ACORN.

Full article Mike Flynn Never Ending Acorn Scandal BigGovernment.Com

Democrat Scandals October 7, 2009

ACORN embezzlement was $5 million, La. attorney general says

NOLA.COM

By Robert Travis Scott

October 06, 2009, 5:46AM




Louisiana's attorney general has broadened the scope of an investigation of ACORN to include a possible embezzlement of $5 million a decade ago within the community organization, five times more than previously reported.

ACORN Chief Executive Officer Bertha Lewis said the new reported amount is "completely false."

Attorney General Buddy Caldwell has been conducting an investigation of ACORN since June. He issued subpoenas in August seeking documents related to former ACORN International President Wade Rathke and his brother Dale Rathke, who kept the group's books. Those subpoenas were focused on possible ACORN violations for non-payment of employee withholding taxes, obstructing justice and violating the Employee Retirement Security Act. No charges have been made.

Full article Nola.Com

Democrat Scandals October 6, 2009

NEW YORK POST

Shaming Charlie's Pals

October 5, 2009

Excerpts:

House Republicans, clearly frustrated by the sloth-like pace at which the Ethics Committee is looking into the tangled financial affairs of Rep. Charles Rangel, have finally decided to take the bull by the horns.

Good move.

Unless Rangel steps down this week as chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee -- the House's tax-writing body -- the GOP will introduce a resolution demanding his removal.

It's not likely to succeed, of course -- in fact, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer probably won't even let it come to the floor.

But that will still force at least one roll-call vote in which Democrats will have to go on record as either backing Rangel -- as Pelosi continues to do -- or not.

Full article NEW YORK POST

October 5, 2009

POLITICO

Manu Raju

9-30-09

In Tight Times, Congress Boosts Its Budget

Excerpts

Congress is on the verge of giving itself a bump in its annual budget — even as local governments, families and businesses across the country are tightening their belts in the worst recession in decades.

Under a House-Senate conference measure, approved by the House last week and poised for passage in the Senate on Wednesday, spending for the legislative branch will increase 5.8 percent this year, boosting Capitol Hill’s annual budget to $4.7 billion.

The measure includes a hodgepodge of new funding for lawmakers: a $500,000 pilot program for senators to send out postcards about their town hall meetings, $30,000 for receptions for foreign dignitaries and $4 million for consultants — with Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) getting up to nine each and Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) getting up to three more.

Full article Politico

September 19, 2009

HUMAN EVENTS

Rangel: The Most Corrupt Dem?

by Ross Kaminsky

09/17/2009

Excerpts:

First there was “Countrywide Chris” Dodd (D-Conn.), whose combination of poor judgment and possible corruption qualifies him to be Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. Then there was Tim “TurboTax” Geithner, whose false tax return filings qualify him to be Secretary of the Treasury. And now, in keeping with the Democrats’ recent tendency to have scoundrels in the highest positions involving regulation of the nation’s finances, we have the Chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.), who recently filed amended financial disclosure reports showing a net worth about double what he had previously reported. (Rangel’s original 2007 disclosure form and the amendment can be seen here in pdf form.)

In addition to showing his net worth increasing from a range of $516,015 and $1,316,000 to a range of $1,028,024 to $2,495,000 in his amended 2007 financial disclosure form filed last month, Rangel also reported substantial 2007 income and several transactions involving mutual fund sales, purchases, and exchanges which he had not disclosed earlier. The new numbers are not small, especially as a percentage of Rangel’s total net worth.

For example, while Rangel was reporting net worth in the area of $1 million, he “overlooked” two accounts worth over $250,000 each (one checking, one mutual fund), another bank account, several other mutual fund accounts, and holdings of stock and land totaling another roughly $300,000. In other words, Rangel’s unreported assets were worth about as much as his reported assets.

Full article Human Events

September 16, 2009

New York Post

Charlie Rangel Scandal Keeps Growing and Growing

Fails to report Harlem-pad income

By ISABEL VINCENT and MELISSA KLEIN

Last Updated: 2:56 PM, September 13, 2009

Posted: 3:28 AM, September 13, 2009

Excerpts:

Rep. Charles Rangel reported no rental income for eight years on his rundown Harlem row house, even though public records show tenants were living there.

The powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee said he received nothing from 1993 to 2000 on the six-unit building, according to federal financial disclosure forms.

But one current tenant told The Post she had lived at the building for 20 years -- and paid rent during that period.

Full article Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein New York Post

August 21, 2009

This Sham Health Care Bill Accomplishes Nothing Most Americans Want

The Voters' Option

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY

Health Care: With opposition growing to their planned takeover of U.S. health care, Democrats have an idea: They'll go it alone without GOP votes. Looks like they'll have to go it alone without the American people, too.

Posted Wednesday, August 19, 2009 4:20 PM PT

Excerpts:

Sure, the Democrats could pass a health care bill. They have the votes to do whatever they want. Well, good luck with that. As we all have seen from constituents shouting down their quaking representatives, the public is up in arms about the "reforms" proposed. Democrats would be wise to think twice about trying to ram them down the public's throat.

One new poll shows that Americans, by an overwhelming 59% to 36%, agree Congress shouldn't pass a health care bill with just Democratic support. And a Pew Poll shows that, for the first time in the Obama era, fewer than half of all Americans have a favorable view of the Democrats.

If Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Henry Waxman and the wonks in the White House think they'll get a free political pass on this, they're in for a big surprise.

Investor's Business Daily

PURGE CONGRESS

STARVING THE FEDERAL BEAST IS THE ONLY WAY WE CAN BRING FEDERAL SPENDING BACK DOWN TO 17%--SEE HOW--

O HAS TAKEN IT FROM 18% TO WAY ABOVE 30% TO REDISTRIBUTE TO HIS WELFARE DEADBEATS-ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

THIS OUT OF CONTROL CONFISCATION OF YOUR DAILY LABOR IS THE ROOT OF ALL CORRUPTION AND CRONYISM-CONGRESS HAS LET HIM DO IT

SPEAK OUT AGAINST THE HEAVY HANDED TACTICS TO SILENCE DISSENT

SEE THE STEP BY STEP PLAN



PURGE CONGRESS

Housing Meltdown August 8, 2009

Dems Excoriated Auto Execs For Using Jets-Now Spending 1/2 Billion Taxpayers' $ For Their Jets

WALL STREET JOURNAL

July 7, 2009

Congress Gets an Upgrade

$500 Million Slated for Purchase of Eight More Planes as Lawmakers' Travel Soars

By BRODY MULLINS

[Congress to Buy Eight New Planes]

Excerpts:

WASHINGTON -- Congress plans to spend $550 million to buy eight jets, a substantial upgrade to the fleet used by federal officials at a time when lawmakers have criticized the use of corporate jets by companies receiving taxpayer funds.

The purchases will help accommodate growing travel demand by congressional officials. The planes augment a fleet of about two dozen passenger jets maintained by the Air Force for lawmakers, administration officials and military chiefs to fly on government trips in the U.S. and abroad.

The congressional shopping list goes beyond what the Air Force had initially requested as part of its annual appropriations. The Pentagon sought to buy one Gulfstream V and one business-class equivalent of a Boeing 737 to replace aging planes. The Defense Department also asked to buy two additional 737s that were being leased.

Full article Brody Mullins Wall Street Journal Dems Excoriated Auto Execs For Using Jets-Now Spending 1/2 Billion Taxpayers' $ For Their Jets

Housing Meltdown July 28, 2009

ASSOCIATED PRESS

AP IMPACT: Dodd, Conrad told deals were sweetened

By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer Larry Margasak,

Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 7 mins ago

July 28, 2009

Excerpts

WASHINGTON – Despite their denials, influential Democratic Sens. Kent Conrad and Chris Dodd were told from the start they were getting VIP mortgage discounts from one of the nation's largest lenders, the official who handled their loans has told Congress in secret testimony.

Both senators have said that at the time the mortgages were being written they didn't know they were getting unique deals from Countrywide Financial Corp., the company that went on to lose billions of dollars on home loans to credit-strapped borrowers. Dodd still maintains he got no preferential treatment.

Dodd got two Countrywide mortgages in 2003, refinancing his home in Connecticut and another residence in Washington. Conrad's two Countrywide mortgages in 2004 were for a beach house in Delaware and an eight-unit apartment building in Bismarck in his home state of North Dakota.

Full article Larry Margasak AP

July 26, 2009

44 Charged by U.S. in New Jersey Corruption Sweep

Louis Lanzano Associated Press

Agents led suspects from F.B.I. headquarters in Newark on Thursday. The inquiry began with questions on money laundering.

Article Tools Sponsored By

By DAVID M. HALBFINGER

Published: July 23, 2009

Excerpts:

A two-year corruption and international money-laundering investigation stretching from the Jersey Shore to Brooklyn to Israel and Switzerland culminated in charges against 44 people on Thursday, including three New Jersey mayors, two state assemblymen and five rabbis, the authorities said.

Robert Stolarik for The New York Times

The case began with bank fraud charges against a member of an insular Syrian Jewish enclave centered in a seaside town. But when that man became a federal informant and posed as a crooked real estate developer offering cash bribes to obtain government approvals, it mushroomed into a political scandal that could rival any of the most explosive and sleazy episodes in New Jersey’s recent past.

It was replete with tales of the illegal sales of body parts; of furtive negotiations in diners, parking lots and boiler rooms; of nervous jokes about “patting down” a man who turned out to indeed be an informant; and, again and again, of the passing of cash — once in a box of Apple Jacks cereal stuffed with $97,000.

Full article New York Times

July 19, 2009

AUTO CZAR STEVE RATTNER QUITS MYSTERIOUSLY

WALL STREET JOURNAL

JULY 14, 2009

Auto Czar Quits Post Six Months Into the Job

By NEIL KING JR.

ExcerptsL

WASHINGTON -- Steven Rattner, chief architect of the bailouts of General Motors Co. and Chrysler LLC, is leaving the Obama administration after less than six months on the job and just days after ushering GM through a speedy bankruptcy-court proceeding.

Mr. Rattner, a former investment banker and onetime partner of the New York private-equity firm Quadrangle Group, is closely identified with the bailout's successes and controversies. He led revamps that shed thousands of jobs and eliminated heavy debt loads. He also drew criticism from those who objected to the government's intervention in the automobile sector. All told, the bill could hit $100 billion...

The move comes as the New York attorney general's office has intensified scrutiny of Quadrangle Group and Mr. Rattner, 56 years old, as part of a long-running probe, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Full article Neil King Jr. Wall Street Journal

July 15, 2009

REUTERS

NY AG probe of Rattner over pension ties heats up

Mon Jul 13, 2009 6:37pm EDT

Excerpts:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The New York attorney general's probe of investor Steven Rattner, related to how Quadrangle, the private equity fund that he co-founded, won business from New York's public pension fund, has "intensified" in recent weeks, a source familiar with the issues said on Monday.

Rattner is the departing head of the U.S. government's auto task force.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo for over two years has been investigating the use of paid middlemen to win business from New York's public pension fund.

Full article Joan Gralla Reuters

July 11, 2009

WASHINGTON TIMES

Stonewalling on Walpin-gate

The White House ignores unanswered questions about the scandal

By | Friday, July 10, 2009

Excerpts:

President Obama's dismissal of AmeriCorps Inspector General Gerald Walpin becomes more of a scandal with every White House action.

AmeriCorps is a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which is a federal agency. Both the White House and the general counsel at the corporation have been stonewalling congressional investigators. If their actions in firing Mr. Walpin were on the up and up, they wouldn't have anything to hide. It's also curious that they are selectively releasing certain documents to The Washington Post within minutes of The Post's requests after withholding those same documents (and many others) from congressional investigators for days or even weeks.

Mr. Walpin was fired on June 10 with no explanation and no warning to Congress, even though the act governing inspectors general says IGs can be removed only after the president gives Congress 30 days' notice and a reason for the firing.

Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican, first wrote the White House on June 15 asking for "a full and complete explanation of whom the White House consulted in order to evaluate the performance of Mr. Walpin," among a number of other requests. Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican, wrote the White House on June 17 with similar specific requests, after first raising questions about the firing on June 12. Mr. Issa wrote Corporation for National and Community Service Acting Chief Executive Officer Nicola Goren on June 26 to ask again for the information.

Full article Washinton Times

July 9, 2009

Sunlight Foundation

JOHN MURTHA--EARMARKER SUPREME

What do top earmarkers talk about in Congress? Does our money go where their mouths are?

In the case of the top ten earmarkers for FY 2008, the top words they used from 2007-2008 (110th Congress) do often align with their duties in either the Appropriations Committee or in bringing home the bacon to their home state. Six of the top ten use appropriations-related language in their top words and three use their state’s name in their top words.

The top ten earmarkers for FY 2008 were, in descending order with top word in parentheses, Rep. John Murtha (Billion), Rep. Jerry Lewis (Appropriations), Rep. C.W. “Bill” Young (Defense), Rep. Pete Visclosky (Indiana), Rep. David Obey (Billion), Rep. Norm Dicks (Million), Rep. Marcy Kaptur (Trade), Rep. Harold Rogers (Kentucky), Rep. Ike Skelton (Military), Rep. Chet Edwards (Veterans). Only one of these lawmakers (Rep. Skelton) is not on the House Appropriations Committee.

Three of these lawmakers — Reps. Lewis, Murtha and Visclosky — are either under federal investigation or have been mentioned in connection to an investigation in relation to their earmarking practices.

Full article Paul Blumenthal Sunlight Foundation

July 4, 2009

July 3, 2009

WALL STREET JOURNAL

REAL CLEAR POLITICS

The EPA Silences a Climate Skeptic

By Kimberley Strassel

July 3, 2009

Excerpts:

Wherever Jim Hansen is right now -- whatever speech the "censored" NASA scientist is giving -- perhaps he'll find time to mention the plight of Alan Carlin. Though don't count on it.

Mr. Hansen, as everyone in this solar system knows, is the director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Starting in 2004, he launched a campaign against the Bush administration, claiming it was censoring his global-warming thoughts and fiddling with the science. It was all a bit of a hoot, given Mr. Hansen was already a world-famous devotee of the theory of man-made global warming, a reputation earned with some 1,400 speeches he'd given, many while working for Mr. Bush. But it gave Democrats a fun talking point, one the Obama team later picked up.

So much so that one of President Barack Obama's first acts was a memo to agencies demanding new transparency in government, and science. The nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Lisa Jackson, joined in, exclaiming, "As administrator, I will ensure EPA's efforts to address the environmental crises of today are rooted in three fundamental values: science-based policies and program, adherence to the rule of law, and overwhelming transparency." In case anyone missed the point, Mr. Obama took another shot at his predecessors in April, vowing that "the days of science taking a backseat to ideology are over."

Full article Kimberly Strassel Wall Street Journal

July 2, 2009

WASHINGTON TIMES

Rep. Kaptur gets $3.5 billion sweetener in climate bill

Democrats offered concession to Ohio's Kaptur

By Edward Felker (Contact)

Originally published 04:45 a.m., July 1, 2009, updated 09:31 a.m., July 1, 2009

Excerpts:

When House Democratic leaders were rounding up votes Friday for the massive climate-change bill, they paid special attention to their colleagues from Ohio who remained stubbornly undecided.

They finally secured the vote of one Ohioan, veteran Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Toledo, the old-fashioned way. They gave her what she wanted - a new federal power authority, similar to Washington state's Bonneville Power Administration, stocked with up to $3.5 billion in taxpayer money available for lending to renewable energy and economic development projects in Ohio and other Midwestern states.

House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry A. Waxman, California Democrat, included the Kaptur project in a 310-page amendment to the legislation unveiled at 3 a.m. Friday, just hours before the bill was to be debated on the House floor. The amendment was packed with other vote-getting provisions, both large and small, that had been sought by dozens of wavering Democrats.

Full article Washington Times

July 1, 2009

The Union News Blogspot

8/12/08

ACORN scandals blow-up

Union-backed, voter fraud group and Rathke brothers attract increasing scrutiny

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, is a network of nonprofit community groups formed nearly 40 years ago on the premise that banks, corporations and insurance companies, immersed in greed, have kept poor and predominantly minority neighborhoods desperate. Within the past couple months, however, its leaders have been engaged in the more mundane task of spinning a scandal that already has claimed its most visible leader. To longtime ACORN critics, it’s a case of belated just deserts.

At the center of this storm are ACORN co-founder and chief organizer Wade Rathke and his brother, Dale. Wade Rathke is an almost legendary figure in progressive Left circles. Beginning in the Sixties as an SDS activist, he would go on to apply his talents to the National Welfare Rights Organization, whose principle legacy during its years of existence was a large expansion of welfare eligibility and dependency. Out of this experience came ACORN in 1970. Initially based in Little Rock and eventually in New Orleans, ACORN has become a giant oak tree. The group’s early agitprop rhetoric, as expressed in its People’s Platform, made clear its intent for the years ahead:

We are the majority, forged from all minorities. We are the masses of many, not the forces of few. Enough is enough. We will wait no longer for the crumbs at America’s door. We will not be meek, but mighty. We will not starve on past promises, but feast on future dreams.

From the start, ACORN has been unapologetically radical in both worldview and tactics. Taking its inspiration from Saul Alinsky-style neighborhood confrontation politics, the organization, now claiming about 1,200 chapters with some 400,000 households in the U.S. and abroad, prides itself in its ability to mobilize local residents into demanding and getting their fair share – regardless of whether the donations are voluntary. Right now, ACORN hopes to mobilize someone into replacing Wade Rathke.

Full article The Union News Blogspot

June 29, 2009

WORLD NET DAILY

Insider: ACORN 'always been Democrat operation'

'They've never made any secrets about who they support'

Posted: June 18, 2009

7:30 pm Eastern

By Chelsea Schilling

© 2009 WorldNetDaily

Anita Moncrief, former ACORN insider

Excerpts:

While the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, remains under investigation for voter registration fraud and related allegations in at least 14 states, one former insider told WND the organization acted as unofficial arm of the Democratic Party during the recent election and used cash operations to keep some financial transactions under wraps.

In 2005, Anita Moncrief began working in the Strategic Writing and Research Department of ACORN Political Operations and its affiliate Project Vote. She said she conducted voter fraud research and census research and worked with political organizers. Moncrief left the organization in January 2008.

"It has always been a Democrat operation," she told WND. "They've never made any secrets about who they support. Their political action committees are usually set up to support these Democratic candidates."

Full article Chelsea Schilling World Net Daily

June 28, 2009

MICHELEMALKIN.COM

Who’s funding the Obamacare Astroturf campaign?

By Michelle Malkin

June 24, 2009 01:40 AM

Excerpts:

My syndicated column today investigates the deep pockets behind the “grass-roots” campaign for Obamacare. Chicago crony/White House senior adviser David Axelrod is, of course, the master of astroturfing. So it certainly comes as no surprise that left-wing puppetmasters are behind the government health care takeover lobby. But an informed citizenry needs to know the nitty gritty details.

Will the ABC “All Barack Channel” News health care infomercial tell viewers about the cabal at 1825 K Street (a far Left office complex/headquarters that is the Washington DC analogue of the 1024 Elysian Fields ACORN headquarters in New Orleans, which I first reported on in August 2008)?

Will they tell viewers about the First Lady’s patient-dumping scheme?

Full article Michelle Malkin.com

June 28, 2009

PORTFOLIO.COM

Countrywide's Many 'Friends'

by Daniel Golden Jun 12 2008

Senators Dodd and Conrad are among the government officials who scored V.I.P. loans from C.E.O. Angelo Mozilo. An exclusive Portfolio investigation.

Angelo Mozilo

Donna Shalala

James Johnson

Excerpts:

The Company through its subsidiaries, provide banking & nonbanking financial services and products through three business … View MoreTwo U.S. senators, two former Cabinet members, and a former ambassador to the United Nations received loans from Countrywide Financial through a little-known program that waived points, lender fees, and company borrowing rules for prominent people.

Senators Christopher Dodd, Democrat from Connecticut and chairman of the Banking Committee, and Kent Conrad, Democrat from North Dakota, chairman of the Budget Committee and a member of the Finance Committee, refinanced properties through Countrywide’s “V.I.P.” program in 2003 and 2004, according to company documents and emails and a former employee familiar with the loans.

Other participants in the V.I.P. program included former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson, former Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, and former U.N. ambassador and assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke. Jackson was deputy H.U.D. secretary in the Bush administration when he received the loans in 2003. Shalala, who received two loans in 2002, had by then left the Clinton administration for her current position as president of the University of Miami. She is scheduled to receive a Presidential Medal of Freedom on June 19.

Full article Daniel Golden Portfolio.Com

June 27, 2009

POLITICO

Conyers' wife pleads guilty

Monica Conyers (wife of House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers) pleads guilty Friday to federal bribery charges.

Excerpts:

Monica Conyers, the chairwoman of the Detroit City Counciland wife of House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.), pleaded guilty Friday to federal bribery charges, the latest blow to a city still reeling from the collapse of the U.S. auto industry and the jailing of its former mayor.

Monica Conyers pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery in connection with a city sludge-hauling scandal. As a member of the Detroit City Council in 2007, Conyers cast the deciding vote in favor of awarding a $1.2 billion contract to Synagro Technologies Inc.

Monica Conyers’ attorney said Friday that she would be sentenced to between 30 and 37 months in federal prison.

Full article To Politico

###

June 25, 2009

WALL STREET JOURNAL

Lawmakers Tussle Over Mozilo Probe

By JOHN R. EMSHWILLER and KARA SCANNELL

June 24, 2009

Excerpts:

Lawmakers on a congressional oversight panel are struggling with whether to ramp up a probe into a controversial home-loan program at Countrywide Financial Corp. that involved former Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo.Rep. Darrell Issa, a Southern California Republican and the ranking minority member on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, wants to subpoena records of the program known as "Friends of Angelo." The program provided home loans on attractive terms to some people, including elected officials.

Mr. Issa said he believes the names of many favored Countrywide borrowers still aren't known. "We want to know the size and scope of influence" of the program, he said.

The move comes on the heels of a civil fraud suit filed against Mr. Mozilo by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

But the committee chairman, New York Democrat Edolphus Towns, declined to co-sign a letter Mr. Issa sent earlier this month to Bank of America Corp., which purchased Countrywide last year, requesting records of the Friends of Angelo program.

Full article Wall Street Journal

June 22, 2009

NBA Buddy of Prez Obama, Kevin Johnson, misused federal money.

Inspector General's non-partisan investigation ruled former NBA star ineligible for further funds.

Obama had Inspector fired. Gave him 1 hour to resign.

VERY SCANDALOUS!!!

REAl CLEAR POLITICS

June 18, 2009

Interview with Fired Inspector Gerald Walpin

By Lou Dobbs Tonight

Excerpts:

DOBBS: The Obama administration said it fired an AmeriCorps inspector general because he was incompetent and showed up to a meeting, quote, "confused and disoriented."

Gerald Walpin is technically on administrative leave. Administration critics say Walpin was removed because he uncovered waste in the federal program run by one of the president's supporters and friends.

Joining me now the man at the center of this controversy and political storm, Gerald Walpin.

Good to have with us.

GERALD WALPIN, FMR. AMERICORPS INSPECTOR GENERAL: Glad you invited me, thank you.

DOBBS: You were told summarily that you were fired, is that correct?

WALPIN: I was told that I would either resign or be fired and I was given one hour to decide and I thought my obligation to this country was that I stand up to this, which was clearly a firing having to do with the fact that I was doing my job.

Full Article Lou Dobbs Real Clear Politics

June 21, 2009

Moe Lane

Obama Administration Tyranny Continues--The Firing of Inspector General Gerald Walpin

Walpin was investigating Obama crony’s involvement in an AmeriCorps-related scandal involving misappropriation of funding. Case was settled, to the mild detriment of crony*. Walpin disagreed with settlement. Complaint made against him. So far, this is all he-said, he-said.

Then the White House tried to force out Walpin; Walpin, well aware of his rights, made them go through the process. At this point, Senator Charles Grassley - Republican - stepped in, as IG issues are one of his interests. Grassley would also like to know if the First Lady’s office is involved in this somehow, given that her CoS is going over to run the Corporation for National and Community Service, who Walpin was also responsible for oversight over. Meanwhile, Senator Claire McCaskill - Democrat - has also stepped in, as she too is usually associated with IG protection. That makes this officially a matter of bipartisan concern, which means that the White House of course is doing everything it can to address said concerns seriously.

I’m kidding, of course. No, what the White House is actually doing, of course, is trying to imply that Walpin’s senile:

WASHINGTON — Responding to criticism from a Senate Democratic ally, President Obama explained why he fired the Inspector General of the AmeriCorps without the 30-day notification required by law, calling Gerald Walpin so “confused” and “disoriented” that there was reason to question “his capacity to serve.”

Moe Lane

Full article Moelane.Com

June 18, 2009

President Obama's Tyranny, Deception, Redistribution, Orwellian "Newspeak" Continues

Washington Examiner.Com

By: Byron York

Chief Political Correspondent

06/14/09 7:00 PM EDT

Gerald Walpin speaks: The inside story of the AmeriCorps firing

Dispute that resulted in firing involved stimulus money

ALSO: See UPDATE below; Grassley protests, demands information, including any role of First Lady

NEW: House Republicans raise questions about Walpin firing

AND: Will Democrats cover up the AmeriCorps Mess?

AND: First Democrat questions Obama over AmeriCorps IG firing

The White House's decision to fire AmeriCorps inspector general Gerald Walpin came amid politically-charged tensions inside the Corporation for National and Community Service, the organization that runs AmeriCorps. Top executives at the Corporation, Walpin explained in an hour-long interview Saturday, were unhappy with his investigation into the misuse of AmeriCorps funds by Kevin Johnson, the former NBA star who is now mayor of Sacramento, California and a prominent supporter of President Obama. Walpin's investigation also sparked conflict with the acting U.S. attorney in Sacramento amid fears that the probe -- which could have resulted in Johnson being barred from ever winning another federal grant -- might stand in the way of the city receiving its part of billions of dollars in federal stimulus money. After weeks of standoff, Walpin, whose position as inspector general is supposed to be protected from influence by political appointees and the White House, was fired.

Walpin learned his fate Wednesday night. He was driving to an event in upstate New York when he received a call from Norman Eisen, the Special Counsel to the President for Ethics and Government Reform. "He said, 'Mr. Walpin, the president wants me to tell you that he really appreciates your service, but it's time to move on,'" Walpin recalls. "Eisen said, 'You can either resign, or I'll tell you that we'll have to terminate you.'"

At that moment, Walpin says, he had finished not only a report on the Sacramento probe but also an investigation into extensive misuse of AmeriCorps money by the City University of New York, which is AmeriCorps' biggest program. Walpin says he told Eisen that, given those two investigations, neither of which was well-received by top Corporation management, the timing of his firing seemed "very interesting." According to Walpin, Eisen said it was "pure coincidence." When Walpin asked for some time to consider what to do, Eisen gave him one hour. "Then he called back in 45 minutes and asked for my response," Walpin recalls.

Full article Byron York Washington Examiner

Democrat Scandals June 13, 2009

John R. Lott Blogspot

12/17/2008

Bernard Madoff a Democrat

In writing my book Freedomnomics, I started keeping track of the political affiliation of prominent criminals. Needless to say, Madoff is not unusual. John Fund has this over at the WSJ's Political Diary:

Bernard Madoff, who appears to be the perpetrator of the largest financial fraud ever, was a politically active player in Washington. He paid the lobbying firm of Dow Lohnes Government Strategies some $400,000 over the last decade to buttonhole regulators and Congressmen.

The Madoff clan were also large donors to political candidates. They donated over $380,000 to individual politicians and political action committees since 1993, most of it going to Democrats but with a few prominent Republicans thrown in, such as scandal-tarred Rep. Vito Fossella of Staten Island.

Full article John R. Lott Blog

Democrat Scandals June 12, 2009

John Murtha's defense: thank-you notes

POLITICO

By JOHN BRESNAHAN & PATRICK O'CONNOR | 6/1/09 4:31 AM EDTText Size

June 1, 2009

Scandal Rep. John Murtha Democratt and Kuchera Defense Systems Inc.

Excerpts:

As federal prosecutors prepared subpoenas for one of his colleagues and the Navy disbarred a defense contractor with close ties to him, John Murtha last week took an unusual step in response to the ethics imbroglio that seems to be intensifying around him.

He sent thank-you notes to fellow Democrats.

It’s not clear how many House Democrats got the notes — or why. According to aides who have seen copies, the notes said only “Thanks for your support,” and they seem to have been signed by Murtha himself.

By Murtha’s standards, it was a big step

Full article JOHN BRESNAHAN & PATRICK O'CONNOR Politico

Democrat Scandals June 12, 2009

Nancy Pelosi in a "Cloud of Corruption"

Capitol Hill Journal

January 6, 2006

Bob Parks

Posted on Friday, January 06, 2006 6:03:16 PM by WatchYourself

...“The unreported trip was a week-long 1999 visit to Taiwan, paid for by the Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce, for "meetings with government, military and business officials," according to a filing Pelosi signed June 30. The flights cost $3,400 each for Pelosi and her husband. The hotel cost was $940. The sponsor, which has picked up trips for leaders of both parties, paid $300 for meals.

“Pelosi said she had provided "a good faith estimate" of the cost of the other two trips, since her "office records for that period do not indicate the costs." In 1998, NBC paid for a $200 trip to New York for a "Meet the Press" appearance, according to the filing. In 1999, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee paid $300 for transportation to Delray Beach, Fla., and $40 for meals for Pelosi to appear at a reception and briefing.”

Whoops.

Nancy's words will come back and bite her, and when they do, she'll spin, she'll point fingers, she may even cry. But seeing how this scandal may touch almost every United States Senator, Pelosi may be lamenting how lousy she'll look wearing orange...

Full article FreeRepublic.Com

Democrat Scandals June 11, 2009

NewsMax.Com

AIG Scandal May Be Last Straw for Chris Dodd's Career

Saturday, March 21, 2009 3:35 PM

HARTFORD, Conn. � Howard Rosenblatt voted for U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd five years ago. He won't do that again.

"It's time for Chris to resign," said the 62-year-old owner of Rosenblatt's department store in Naugatuck, Conn., a working-class borough of more than 30,000. "He sits on the Senate banking commission, and he had his hands on funny money loans."

Earl Reilly, a 59-year-old factory worker from Naugatuck, shares Rosenblatt's anger with the state's senior senator.

"Don't get me started on Dodd," he said. "He's been doing the job too long, and he's got a hole in his canoe and it's sinking."

Full article NewsMax.Com

Democrat Scandals June 9, 2009

WASHINGTON POST

Sen. Roland Burris (D-Blago)

The hole gets deeper for the tainted senator from Illinois.

June 8, 2009

Excerpts:

WE DON'T know where to begin with the latest mess that has ensnared Sen. Roland W. Burris (D-Ill.). No, "ensnared" isn't the right word. That would imply that he's blameless for his troubles, which isn't the case. Phone conversations taped by federal prosecutors that were released May 26 between Mr. Burris and the brother of then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich belie the senator's repeated assertions that there was no quid pro quo for his appointment to the seat vacated by President Obama.

Robert Blagojevich called Mr. Burris on Nov. 13 to talk about raising money for the governor. But it was Mr. Burris who started the conversation by saying, "I, I know you're calling telling me that you're gonna make me king of the world . . . ." Throughout the conversation, Mr. Burris was very concerned about the appearance of his raising money for Mr. Blagojevich's reelection while seeking to be considered for the Senate seat. Yet, that didn't stop him from trying to figure out ways to get around it.

Mr. Burris suggested hiding behind his lawyer: "I might be able to do this in the name of Tim Wright." He suggested obscuring his involvement by linking into one of 18 upcoming events. "Maybe I can join in on one of those events, too," he said. "What, what, do you have any going with the people that I know?" At the end of the call, Mr. Burris reassured Mr. Blagojevich: "I will personally do something, okay."

Full article Washington Post

Democrat Scandals June 8, 2009

WALL STREET JOURNAL

JUNE 18, 2008

Senate Panel to Review Conrad's Home Loans

By JAMES R. HAGERTY and MICHAEL R. CRITTENDEN

Excerpts:

Sen. Kent Conrad, a Democrat from North Dakota, said the Senate Ethics Committee will look into mortgage loans he received from Countrywide Financial Corp.

Sen. Conrad is among numerous politicians and other prominent people who received home loans, sometimes on preferential terms, from Countrywide on orders from the company's chairman and chief executive, Angelo Mozilo. Those loans were known internally as being for "Friends of Angelo," or FOA.

Last week, Sen. Conrad said a review of a $1.2 million loan he received in 2002 to buy a vacation home in Bethany Beach, Del., indicated he received a discount of one percentage point on fees, a finding confirmed by a person involved with that transaction. The senator has said he didn't ask for a discount or know he received one at the time.

Sen. Conrad said he also has discovered that Countrywide made an exception to its normal practices in 2004 in making him a $96,000 mortgage loan backed by an eight-unit apartment building he owns in Bismarck, N.D. According to Sen. Conrad, Countrywide typically made loans only on properties with four or fewer units. Sen. Conrad has said he will seek refinancing on the property from another lender. He also has said he believes he may have overpaid for the Bismarck loan.

Full article JAMES R. HAGERTY and MICHAEL R. CRITTENDEN WALL STREET JOURNAL

Democrat Scandals June 7, 2009

Phila.Com

Posted on Thu, Jun. 4, 2009

Defense firm, a Murtha backer, got money from drug dealer

By Dennis B. Roddy

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Excerpts:

A Johnstown-area defense firm under investigation for possible contract fraud received an infusion of cash during its start-up years from a narcotics trafficker with whom one of the company's founders admitted engaging in the drug trade.

At the time, Kuchera Industries was a startup company that assembled electronics components and sought federal contracts -- contracts that would ultimately make the company and its sister firm, Kuchera Defense Systems, multimillion-dollar businesses.

Peter Whorley, a Florida man and business associate of William Kuchera, one of the top officers at the companies, put up $50,000 to help Kuchera Industries find its feet, according to court records. Kept on the Kuchera books as a consultant receiving "special commissions," Mr. Whorley later helped the company in its unsuccessful efforts to land a contract with the United States Census Bureau in the mid-1980s.

Full article Dennis B. Roddy Phila.Com

Democrat Scandals June 6, 2009

Here is What Gina Keating wrote on June 2nd "U.S. prosecutors far from decision on Mozilo": sources

See excerpts from Gina Keating below

Here Is What Happened on June 4th "Regulators charge Angelo Mozilo, the former king of America's mortgage market, with fraud"

ECONOMIST.COM

Angelo Mozilo

Accusing Angelo

Jun 5th 2009 | NEW YORK

From Economist.com

Regulators charge Angelo Mozilo, the former king of America's mortgage market, with fraud

Excerpts:

IT IS enough to wipe the Hollywood smile off Angelo Mozilo’s face, if not his equally legendary perma-tan. On Thursday June 4th America’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged the former boss of Countrywide, America’s largest mortgage lender before the credit crisis, and his former chief operating and financial officers with securities fraud. The civil suit also accuses Mr Mozilo of insider trading. He thus has the dubious privilege of becoming the first high-profile moneyman to be fingered for alleged wrongdoing in the credit crunch—Bernie Madoff was hardly a household name before the exposure of his ponzi scheme.

The SEC alleges that the three Countrywide executives deliberately misled investors about the risk of its mortgage loans souring as it aggressively built market share. It was, according to the complaint, “a tale of two companies”: In public, Mr Mozilo praised the quality of his firm’s loans, describing Countrywide as a “role model to others in terms of responsible lending”; in private, he is described as having become increasingly alarmed at the poor quality of the mortgages and their chances of blowing up, issuing “dire” assessments to colleagues.

The firm did not disclose these concerns to investors, as it was required to do in SEC filings. The executives allegedly rejected warnings from the chief risk officer about lax loan-underwriting standards. From 2005 on, Countrywide loosened these to match the sloppiest of its competitors, even as Mr Mozilo publicly trumpeted the firm’s prudence. The race to the bottom only accelerated after house prices started to fall. The insider-trading charges stem from Mr Mozilo’s sale of nearly $140m of Countrywide shares. The complaint portrays him as a gambler, betting his investors’ chips on ever-crazier hands while quietly pocketing his own.

Full article ECONOMIST.COM

Tue Jun 2, 2009 3:11pm EDT

By Gina Keating

Excerpts:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Prosecutors are at least several months away from deciding whether to bring a criminal case against Countrywide Financial Corp founder Angelo Mozilo, the home loan entrepreneur expected to be hit soon by regulators with civil charges of insider trading.

Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles have been examining Mozilo's activities for more than a year but have yet to find proof he intended to defraud investors through his trading activities, two people familiar with the probe said. The people were granted anonymity because the probe is not public.

"They are not close (to an indictment)," one source said.

Full article Gina Keating Reuters.Com

Democrat Scandals June 5, 2009

The National Ledger

Nancy Pelosi Airplane Scandal, John Murtha Warns Pentagon

By Jack Kramer

Feb 8, 2007

The airplane scandal for US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is ramping up. One of her main allies, Congressman John Murtha is stepping up and in his own words is telling the Pentagon what to do. According to a report from the San Francisco chronicle, Murtha, who chairs the House military appropriations subcommittee, said he has spoken to Pentagon officials about the need to provide Pelosi with a bigger plane that can fly passengers coast to coast in comfort.

But he denied pressuring the Pentagon. "I don't need to pressure them. I just tell them what they need to do,'' Murtha said.

Murtha then seemed to threaten the Pentagon again - or at least told them what to do. Murtha said he is convinced the Pentagon has been leaking information about the possibility that Pelosi would use large military planes to make her look bad. But he said, "They're making a mistake when they leak it because she decides on allocations for them,'' referring to the Pentagon budget.

Full article Jack Kramer The National Ledger

Democrat Scandals June 4, 2009

POLITICO

JOHN BRESNAHAN

PMA-related snarls mount for Pete Visclosky

Excerpts:

Rep. Pete Visclosky’s political problems are mounting in the wake of subpoenas served as part of a federal criminal probe involving the PMA Group, a once highflying lobbying firm with ties to Visclosky and other senior Democrats.

The Indiana Democrat announced Tuesday that he will turn over authority for the $30 billion energy and water spending bill to another Democrat on his Appropriations subcommittee.

And Visclosky will have to move forward without the help of his longtime chief of staff, Charles Brimmer. Brimmer — who, like Visclosky, was served with a federal subpoena last week — retired quietly in recent days. A Visclosky spokesman confirmed Brimmer’s departure but offered no additional information.

Full article JOHN BRESNAHAN POLITICO

Democrat Scandals May 29, 2009

POLITICO

Navigate:

McAuliffe denies cash offered to Nader

By ANDY BARR | 5/29/09 5:59 PM EDT

Excerpts:

Virginia Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Terry McAuliffe’s campaign denied Friday that he offered former independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader campaign funds as part of an effort to persuade Nader from running in certain key states in 2004.

Nader claimed in an interview with The Washington Post on Thursday that McAuliffe offered him money for his 2004 presidential campaign if he would stay out of the 19 battleground states McAuliffe believed Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) needed to compete with President George W. Bush.

“Terry McAuliffe is slipperier than an eel in olive oil,” Nader told the Post.

Full article Andy Bar Politico

Democrat Scandals May 29, 2009

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

Back in February, when snow covered Chicago, we urged Sen. Roland Burris to resign.

Excerpts:

He should not have accepted the Senate appointment from soon-to-be-impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich, we wrote, and the way in which he fudged the facts of his negotiations with the Blagojevich camp -- failing to come clean about whole conversations and any mention of money -- stripped him of credibility.

Now it's May, but only the weather has changed. The release this week of a recorded phone conversation last fall between Burris and Blagojevich's brother, Robert, only reinforces our view: Burris really should step down.

Not that he will, obviously, which leaves Illinois with a senator and a half.

The covert recording by federal agents leaves the clear impression that Burris was willing to make or arrange for campaign contributions to Blagojevich in return for continued consideration for the Senate seat. He worried how that might look. Maybe, he suggested, he could get his law partner, Tim Wright, to do the fund-raiser and cover himself that way.

Full article CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

Democrat Scandals May 28, 2009

THE NEW REPUBLIC

Why Dodd Is Still Trailing

Excerpts:

A new Quinnipiac poll released today shows that five-term Connecticut senator Chris Dodd still trails leading Republican challenger Ron Simmons 45-39 percent in the 2010 race. As I discussed in my recent story on Dodd, his numbers started to plummet in the wake of the furor over the AIG bonus scandal. (Dodd chairs the Senate Banking Committee, and while he originally opposed the bonuses, the Obama administration pressured him to let them through.) Though Dodd seems to be making up a bit of electoral ground (he trailed Simmons by 16 points in April), his approval ratings remain distressingly low: Connecticut voters disapprove 53-38 percent of the job that he is doing, barely budging from the all-time low of 58-33 percent that he polled on April 2. "Dodd appears to have stopped the bleeding," Quinnipiac poll director Douglas Schwartz said in a press release today. "But he still has a long way to go to restore the trust of Connecticut's voters."

As I argue in my recent article, the Dodd is still being haunted by the perception that he has become too cozy with moneyed interests, and today's poll only confirms these fears:

For those who disapprove, 24 percent list Dodd's overall dishonesty or lack of integrity, with 17 percent who cite his failure to deal with banking industry problems and 11 percent who point specifically to the Countrywide mortgage deal.

Full article Michelle Cottie, Christopher Orr, Jason Zengerle

Democrat Scandals May 27, 2009

GOOGLE.COM

Denials aside, recovery hard for Burris' image

By HENRY C. JACKSON – 30 minutes ago

Excerpts:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tainted from the day he was appointed, Sen. Roland Burris again finds himself denying any role in a pay-to-play scheme as newly revealed wiretaps show him begging for his Senate seat and offering to donate to ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's campaign.

Burris repeatedly insists he did nothing wrong, telling reporters Wednesday that his taped conversation with Blagojevich's brother, Robert, was the result of a misunderstanding. He said he was trying to placate the governor's brother because he wanted to win a Senate appointment.

Political observers say Burris' justifications aside, there's no recovery for his image.

Full article Henry C. Jackson

Democrat Scandals May 27, 2009

The Jeff Scott Show Blog

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Democrat Scandals Everywhere Today!

Excerpts:

Today is a juicy day for Democrat scandals. You have California Senator Dianne Feinstein introducing a bill to spend $25 billion on a government agency that had just given her husband's business a lucrative contract, California Congresswoman Jane Harman promising help for an AIPAC espionage case in exchange for help becoming House Intelligence Committee Chairwoman, Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha is still directing earmarks to his campaign contributors, Mississippi Congressman Bennie Thompson is getting millions of dollars in homeland security earmarks for his alma mater, even though they don't have the capacity to provide the services under the earmarks, and Indiana Congressman Pete Visclosky has to use his campaign funds to pay for legal help defending himself from an FBI probe into his campaign fundraising. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

To make things even worse, we have warnings from the bailout watchdog that the program is vulnerable to fraud. Some banks are trying to get out of TARP, and Obama isn't crazy about the idea, as they take the backdoor to nationalization.

Obama is going to attend a meeting with credit card company executives, presumably to protect them from the pitchforks the same way he is with the banks, as long as they kiss his ring.

Full artile The Jeff Scott Show Blog

Democrat Scandals May 26, 2009

SENATOR JOHN EDWARDS

Excerpts:

Ex-senator John Edwards was accused of having an affair with Rielle Hunter, while his wife Elizabeth was fighting cancer. Not only that, but he was rumored to have a love child with his mistress. Now, Edwards has confessed (what the rest of us knew!) that he did indeed father Hunter's baby girl.

John decided to come forward to his wife because his ex-lover threatened to go public. Although Edwards had admitted to the affair earlier, he would not admit to being the baby's father - he even had one of his campaign workers, Andrew Young, claim to be the father.

John's wife has a book coming out in May, titled, "Resilience: Reflections on the Burdens and Gifts of Facing Life's Adversities," and his ex-lover was upset about the release and John wanted to get the news of his affair out before Rielle did.
Democrat Scandals May 25, 2009

Full article Babble.Com

Monday, April 27, 2009

NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE NRO

CHRIS DODD, BARACK OBAMA, JOHN EDWARDS

Your Democratic Scandal Scorecard

Excerpts:

Today's IRS Tax Tip

If you’re reading NRO, you’re probably already used to revelations of Democratic lawmakers saying one thing and doing another, and in some cases, violating the law with impunity. But for a congressional majority, and later, a president and administration that ran against a “culture of corruption,” the breadth, depth, and variety of recent and ongoing Democratic scandals is pretty eye-opening.

SEN. CHRIS DODD (D., CONN.): Dodd is most notably and recently in trouble for the provision of the stimulus bill that ensured that already-existing contracts for bonuses at companies receiving federal bailout money would be honored. In an interview with CNN, he initially denied any role in the provision.

As chair of the Senate Banking Committee, Dodd tried to put together federal aid for the then-troubled mortgage lender Countrywide Financial. Dodd’s homes in Connecticut and Washington, D.C., were refinanced to below-market rates under the “Friends of Angelo” program (meaning he was a friend of then-CEO Angelo Mozilo). He did not disclose the refinance in the six financial-disclosure statements he’s filed since then and has failed to keep promises to release more information about them. He later said he knew he was part of the company’s “VIP” program, but he didn’t know being a part of the VIP program meant he would receive favorable mortgage terms. (Really.) Those noted anti-Democrat partisans on the New York Times editorial board have declared “his excuses are wearing ridiculously thin.”

Full article NRO

Democrat Scandals May 24, 2009

Pelosi's Latest Doublespeak/Newspeak

Tortured Account

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY

Posted Tuesday, May 12, 2009 4:20 PM PT

Integrity: Release of the interrogation memos was intended to tarnish the Bush administration's legacy of keeping America safe. Now, that political strategy is collapsing — and with it, Nancy Pelosi's speakership.

Excerpts:

The tables have turned on "Memogate." House Speaker Pelosi and other congressional Democratic leaders clearly knew early on, via classified briefings, about President Bush's approval of enhanced interrogation techniques for high-level terrorist detainees. Yet she kept silent.

In an adaptation of the famous Watergate catchphrase, people have been asking, "What did the speaker know and when did she know it?" But as Pelosi's tune changes and her credibility crumbles, a new version of Nixon White House counsel John Dean's observation might be more apt: that there is a cancer growing on the speakership, and if the cancer is not removed, the speaker herself may be killed by it.

Here is the latest line of baloney we are being asked to believe: After a Pelosi aide was briefed on Feb. 4, 2003, together with House Intelligence Committee ranking Democrat Jane Harman, D-Calif., about waterboarding Abu Zubaydah, a key al-Qaida operative, Pelosi supposedly expressed support for a private protest letter Harman wrote — but she didn't ask to sign her name to the letter, sent to the CIA's general counsel, nor did she pen her own protest.

Full article Investor's Business Daily

Democrat Scandals May 20, 2009

WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Astoundingly, John Conyers, Barney Frank and other Scandalous Democrats Find Nothing To Investigate With One Of The Most Corrupt, Crime Ridden Organizations In America

Rep. Conyers Reverses Stance on ACORN Investigation

By: Kevin Mooney

Examiner Investigative Reporter

05/06/09 4:53 PM EDT

Excerpts:

After listening to detailed testimony on voter fraud allegations and questionable financial transactions connected with ACORN no less than Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, called for a possible investigation.

The non-profit activist group formally known as the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now is the subject of vote fraud investigations in at least 12 different states. Additional charges were filed in Nevada on Monday.

A dissident group known as the ACORN 8, which includes two former board members of the national group, have also called for federal agents to probe into an embezzlement scheme that involves Dale Rathke, who was once the chief financial officer, and is the brother of Wade Rathke who founded ACORN.Heather Heidelbaugh, an attorney with the Republican National Lawyers Association, sued ACORN over election law violations last year. Her March testimony made a strong impression on Conyers who received a 100 percent rating from ACORN in its 2006 legislative scorecard.

Full article Kevin Mooney WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Democrat Scandals April 26, 2009

BARNEY FRANK--AS BIG A LIAR AND DECEIVER AS BILL CLINTON

OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY

Barney Frank: Housing Bubble Nostradamus

James Joyner

Friday, April 24, 2009

Full article OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY

Excerpts:

When I saw Glenn Reynolds‘ snarky post, “BARNEY FRANK IN 2005: Bubble? What bubble?” my instinct was a snarky rejoinder about what a stupid SOB Frank was with a link to my own archives, subtly alluding to the fact that a lot of us got that one wrong.

The link, though, goes to an Ed Morrissey post noting that Frank is now taking credit for having warned about this all along when it turns out “Frank has long been one of the loudest voices supporting the CRA and Fannie/Freddie policies that encouraged irresponsible lending.”

Okay, now that’s funny.

Frank, 22 April 2009:

Democrat Scandals April 18, 2009

Barney Frank's Double Indemnity

Mr. Frank wants to put a public safety net under municipal bonds.

April 17, 2009

Full article WALL STREET JOURNAL

Excerpts:

Barney Frank's track record as a financial analyst is, shall we say, mixed. The House Financial Services Chairman said for years that a collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would pose zero risk to taxpayers. For most people, a mistake of that magnitude would trigger introspection, if not humility. But not the sage of Massachusetts. He's cooking up another fantastic subsidy -- and like the last one, he swears taxpayers won't feel a thing. In his words, "it would cost the federal government zero." Uh oh.[Review & Outlook] AP

Barney Frank.

Mr. Frank believes state and local governments are paying too much when they issue debt because rating agencies don't give them the ratings Mr. Frank feels they deserve. So last year he pushed a bill to effectively force Standard &Poor;'s, Moody's and Fitch to raise their ratings on municipal bonds, but the legislation got sidetracked amid the financial turmoil. Now Mr. Frank is back, bigger than ever.

He'd like to create what he calls an FDIC-like federal insurance program for municipal bonds. Jurisdictions issuing debt would pay premiums into the insurance fund, and in return the federal government would guarantee the debt against default. Private companies already insure municipal bonds -- companies such as MBIA, Ambac and Berkshire Hathaway. And you may recall that last year the big bond insurers caused considerable angst when their exposure to mortgage-related debt called into question their ability to meet their muni-bond obligations. MBIA, in response, recently fenced off its muni-bond business from its other obligations.

Democrat Scandals April 16, 2009

REAL CLEAR POLITICS

April 7, 2009

Full article Real Clear Politics

Excerpts:

WFXT-TV: It all started with a question: "How much responsibility, if any, do you have for the financial crisis?"

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) and a conservative Harvard law student debated over how Frank should have handled his role as the House Chairman of the Financial Services Committee. Frank was at Harvard University for a speech at the Kennedy School of Government.

Frank said the student wasn't backing up his claims, invoking some laughter from the crowd, and the student told Frank he wasn't answering his question.

Democrat Scandals April 15, 2009

Barney Frank protests (and sputters and bullies) too muchBy Michelle Malkin •

April 7, 2009 03:12 PM

Full article Michelle Malkin

Excerpts:

Have you seen the video of a Harvard student challenging Barney Frank to take responsibility for his role in the subprime crisis?

His defensive bullying and sputtering and ranting about “right-wing attacks” speaks for itself.

So do the FOIA records that Judicial Watch obtained and released yesterday, which I linked yesterday. A reminder for Barney Frank (and ammunition for the next time a brave student wants to take him on again):

Judicial Watch obtained the documents from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request dated December 4, 2008. Judicial Watch requested records related to members of Congress activity regarding the policy of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to increase lending to individuals with poor credit risk, as well as correspondence and records about contacts between FHFA and Fannie and Freddie. Among the important documents:

Housing Meltdown April 13, 2009

AGE OF SPADES HQ

Full article MINX.CC

Excerpts:

As Democrats prepared to take control of Congress after the 2006 elections, a top boss at the insurance giant American International Group Inc. told colleagues that Sen. Christopher J. Dodd was seeking re-election donations and he implored company executives and their spouses to give.

The message in the Nov. 17, 2006, e-mail from Joseph Cassano, AIG Financial Products chief executive, was unmistakable: Mr. Dodd was "next in line" to be chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, which oversees the insurance industry, and he would "have the opportunity to set the committee's agenda on issues critical to the financial services industry.

"Given his seniority in the Senate, he will also play a key role in the Democratic Majority's leadership," Mr. Cassano wrote in the message, obtained by The Washington Times.

Housing Meltdown April 12, 2009

CNN

Dodd: Administration pushed for language protecting bonuses

March 19, 2009

Full article CNN

Excerpts:

(CNN) -- Senate Banking committee Chairman Christopher Dodd told CNN Wednesday that he was responsible for language added to the federal stimulus bill to make sure that already-existing contracts for bonuses at companies receiving federal bailout money were honored.Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut, appears on CNN's "The Situation Room" on Wednesday.

Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut, appears on CNN's "The Situation Room" on Wednesday.

Dodd acknowledged his role in the change after a Treasury Department official told CNN the administration pushed for the language.

Both Dodd and the official, who asked not to be named, said it was because administration officials were afraid the government would face numerous lawsuits without the new language.

Housing Meltdown April 10, 2009

fireandreamitchell.com

Democrat scandals you wouldn’t hear from the liberal mainstream media

Full article fireandreamitchell.com

Excerpts:

Below is a list of scandals involving leaders of the Democrat Party. 95% of which have probably never been mentioned by the liberal biased mainstream media. The republican list, which is a fraction the size of this list has been beaten to death by the liberal biased mainstream media.

William Jefferson Clinton was barred from practicing law in his home state after being impeached. He was not tried as prescribed in the Constitution.

It is true that the letter “W” was removed from White House typewriters and computer keyboards during Clinton’s last days in office. While it may be true that the letter “W” was scratched into the famous desk in the Oval Office, it was reported that incoming president George Bush said that it looked to him like an “M”.

Neil Goldschmidt - Democrat - Oregon governor. Admitted to having an illegal sexual relationship with a 14-year-old teenager while he was serving as Mayor of Portland.

Housing Meltdown April 8, 2009

arturoafc54.wordpress.com

Carville’s 2009 Predictions:

Stand By For More Democrat Scandals

James Carville

CNN

Full article arturoafc 54 wordpress.com

Excerpts:

In domestic politics, my first prediction is one that pains me to make, but I’ll make it anyway.

The Democratic Party has had a recent run of corruption and sex scandals. Mathematicians say that there are no such things as streaks and that the last event has nothing to do with the next. The only people who disagree are crapshooters and political operatives. Since I am both, I firmly believe that there are streaks and that political scandals happen in clusters.

AIG, Larry Summers and the politics of deflection

Online Journal.Com

By F. William Engdahl

Mar 24, 2009, 00:24

Full article F. William Engdahl Online Journal.Com

Excerpts:

Finally, US authorities have gotten ‘tough’ with the predator financial institutions. The world has been waiting for such decisive intervention since an unending series of government bailouts of financial institutions began early in 2008, amounting to now trillions of taxpayer dollars.

Now, with the world’s largest insurance giant, AIG, the White House Economic Council chairman, Larry Summers, has expressed ‘outrage.’ President Obama himself has entered the fray to promise ‘justice.’ US senators have threatened a law to change the injustice. The only problem is they are all exercising ‘politics of deflection,’ taking attention away from the real problem, the fraudulent bailout.

The issue is over AIG announcing it was obligated to pay its traders in its high-risk London unit a sales bonus totaling $165 million for the year. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has announced a novel strategy for ‘justice.’ AIG will ‘reimburse’ the taxpayers up to $165 million for bonuses the company is giving employees. AIG will pay the Treasury an amount equal to the bonuses, and the Treasury will deduct that amount from the $30 billion in government (taxpayer) assistance that will soon go to the company. But he said that the Obama administration hasn’t given up on efforts to recoup the money from the employees who got the bonuses. Good luck.

Larry Summers is the man directly responsible for the mess...

Housing Meltdown April 7, 2009

Jesse's Café Américain

Geithner and Summers should resign over their handling of AIG.

March 16, 2009

Full article Jesse's Café Américain

Excerpts:

The Fed has no business regulating anything more complex than a checking account.

The difficulty with which we are faced is that despite their mugging for the camera and emotional words the Democrats and Republicans are owned by Wall Street and Big Business because of the existing system of lobbying and campaign funding.

Getting behind a third party for president is symbolic but ineffective. Giving a significant number of congressional seats to a third party will send a chilling and practical message to both the President and the Congress that enough is enough.

Housing Meltdown April 6, 2009

GAYPATRIOT.NET

Obama Chief of Staff Tied to Key Player in Financial Meltdown

Posted by GayPatriotWest at 8:45 pm -

March 26, 2009.

Filed under: Democratic Scandals, Liberal Hypocrisy, Media Bias, Obama Watch

Full article GAY PATRIOT.NET

Excerpts:



After President Clinton named Rahm Emanuel to the board of Freddie Mac in 2000, the current White House Chief of Staff sat on a board of directors deemed “so pliant” by Armando Falcon Jr,. , head of a federal oversight agency for the government-sponsored mortgage giant,

that Freddie Mac’s managers easily were able to massage company ledgers. They manipulated bookkeeping to smooth out volatility, perpetuating Freddie Mac’s industry reputation as “Steady Freddie,” a reliable producer of earnings growth. Wall Street liked what it saw, Freddie Mac’s stock value soared and top executives collected their bonuses.

“The scandal forced Freddie Mac to restate $5 billion in earnings and pay $585 million in fines and legal settlements. It also foreshadowed even harder times at the firm.“ Not just that, “Freddie Mac reported recently that it lost $50 billion in 2008. It so far has tapped $14 billion of the government’s guarantee and said it soon will need an additional $30 billion to keep operating.”

As Freddie Mac crumbled, putting taxpayers on the hook for $44 billion, not to mention the losses suffered by stockholders, Emanuel pocketed a hefty sum, making “at least $320,000 from his time at Freddie Mac. Two years after leaving the firm, Emanuel reported an additional sale of Freddie Mac stock worth between $100,001 and $250,000.”

Housing Meltdown April 4, 2009

BLOOMBERG.COM

Summers Earned Millions in D.E. Shaw Salary, Bank Speech Fees

By Timothy J. Burger and Kristin Jensen

April 4 (Bloomberg)

Full article By Timothy J. Burger and Kristin Jensen Bloomberg.Com

Excerpts:

Today's IRS Tax Tip

Lawrence Summers, director of President Barack Obama’s National Economic Council, earned millions working at a hedge fund and speaking to banks such as Citigroup Inc. that later received taxpayer bailout money.

Hedge fund D.E. Shaw & Co. paid Summers more than $5 million in salary and other compensation in the past 16 months, according to a financial disclosure form released by the White House yesterday. Summers served as a managing director at the New York-based firm. Summers, a former Treasury secretary, also earned more than $2.7 million in speaking fees.

“There was considerable interest in hearing his economic insights,” said Ben LaBolt, a White House spokesman. At the White House, Summers “has been at the forefront of this administration’s work to shore up our nation’s financial system and to put in place a regulatory framework that will strengthen the financial system,” LaBolt said.

Housing Meltdown April 3, 2009

Political Hotsheet

April 2, 2009 3:12 PM

Dodd Polls 16 Points Behind Possible Republican Challenger For 2010

Posted by Michelle Levi

Full article Michelle Levi CBS NEWS

Excerpts:

In a direct match up with possible Republican 2010 candidate former Congressman Rob Simmons, Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd has the support of only 34 percent of his constituents, a new Quinnipiac University poll shows. Simmons receives 50 percent of the vote, according to the poll.

Dodd, who has been in the Senate for 30 years, chairs the Senate Banking Committee. Many of those polled cite his involvement in the AIG bonus fiasco for their unhappiness with the incumbent, whose has just a 33 percent favorability rating. That’s the lowest point his approval rating has ever gone; in March, it stood at 49 percent.

Dodd took much of the blame last month when his committee loosened restrictions on executive bonuses for bailed out companies in the stimulus bill. After initially denying having a hand in the legislation, which allowed AIG to reward current and former employees with $165 million dollars in retention bonuses, Dodd admitted that he diluted the restrictions at the request of the Treasury Department.

Housing Meltdown April 2, 2009

CHICAGO TRIBUNE.COM

Rahm Emanuel's profitable stint at mortgage giant Freddie Mac stay made him at least $320,000

By Bob Secter and Andrew Zajac

Tribune reporters

3:18 PM CDT, March 26, 2009

Full article Bob Secter and Andrew Zajac CHICAGO TRIBUNE.COM

Excerpts:

Before its portfolio of bad loans helped trigger the current housing crisis, mortgage giant Freddie Mac was the focus of a major accounting scandal that led to a management shake-up, huge fines and scalding condemnation of passive directors by a top federal regulator.

One of those allegedly asleep-at-the-switch board members was Chicago's Rahm Emanuel—now chief of staff to President Barack Obama—who made at least $320,000 for a 14-month stint at Freddie Mac that required little effort.

As gatekeeper to Obama, Emanuel now plays a critical role in addressing the nation's mortgage woes and fulfilling the administration's pledge to impose responsibility on the financial world.

DEMOCRAT SCANDALS March 31, 2009

MICHELLEMALKIN.COM

Another day, another Obama nominee with tax problems

By Michelle Malkin

March 31, 2009 06:43 PM

Full article MICHELLE MALKIN

Excerpts:

"...Kathleen Sebelius, President Obama’s nominee to become Health and Human Services secretary, said in a letter obtained by the Associated Press that she made “unintentional errors” on her taxes and has corrected her returns from three different years.

In the letter, which was sent to senators and dated today, Sebelius wrote that she had made changes related to charitable contributions, business expenses and the sale of a home, according to the AP

The wire service reports that she and her husband paid just over $7,000 in back taxes, along with $878 in interest, for the years 2005-2007...

DEMOCRAT SCANDALS March 31, 2009

Business & Media Institute

Media Ignore Democratic Ties to Fannie Mae Scandal

Papers largely bypass Franklin Raines service in Clinton White House but focused on Enron ties to Bush.

By Ken Shepherd

Feb. 24, 2006

Full article Ken Shepherd Business & Media Institute

Excerpts:

After Enron’s collapse, the media frequently reminded the public of political ties top executives in the failed energy company had to the Bush administration.

The same standard, however, wasn’t applied to mortgage broker Fannie Mae (FNM), whose former CEO served in the Clinton White House and was speculated to be on presidential hopeful John Kerry’s short list for Treasury secretary.

DEMOCRAT SCANDALS

The print media continued that double standard in covering a comprehensive new report on the scandal released February 23 by former Sen. Warren Rudman (R-N.H.).

Of the nation’s top five newspapers, only The New York Times mentioned Raines’s Clinton connection. The Wall Street Journal didn’t just ignore Democratic links to Fannie Mae, it reported on Republican connections. In the last paragraph of that story, reporter James R. Hagerty pointed out the “strong ties” between the chairman of gulf Bank and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and linked that to a failed investment.

New York Times correspondents Stephen Labaton and Eric Dash wrote that the February 23 report found Raines, “a former chairman and chief executive who had previously served as a top official in the Clinton administration, ‘contributed to a culture that improperly stressed stable earnings growth’ and that he hired and retained a management team that ... was ‘inadequate and in some respects was not competent.’”

DEMOCRAT SCANDALS March 29, 2009

THE RIGHT PERSPECTIVE

Carville Wanted Bush To Fail on 9/11 Morning

[Fox News also uncovered a 2006 survey showing that most Democrat Party voters wanted President Bush to “fail” 51% to 40%]

Full article VISIT: THE RIGHT PERSPECTIVE

Excerpts:

The political back-and-forth about who-wants-who to “fail” has taken another step after Fox News reports that Democrat Party strategist Jim Carville said he wanted then-US President George W. Bush to fail only minutes before the terrorist events of September 11, 2001 unfolded.

“I certainly hope he doesn’t succeed,” Carville told a group of Washington reporters. Democrat Party pollster Stanley Greenberg, who was with Carville at the time, was encouraged by new information showing “public misgivings” about the new President.

“I’m wanting them (the American public) to turn against him,” Greenberg admitted, adding with a chuckle, “They don’t want him to fail. I mean, they think it matters if the president of the United States fails.”

DEMOCRAT SCANDALS March 29, 2009

sayanythingblog.com

Rahm Emanuel Played Role In Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac Accounting Scandal

By Rob on March 26, 2009 at 07:45 am

Full article Rob sayanythingblog.com

Excerpts:

Hope ‘n change!

Before its portfolio of bad loans helped trigger the current housing crisis, mortgage giant Freddie Mac was the focus of a major accounting scandal that led to a management shake-up, huge fines and scalding condemnation of passive directors by a top federal regulator.

One of those allegedly asleep-at-the-switch board members was Chicago’s Rahm Emanuel—now chief of staff to President Barack Obama—who made at least $320,000 for a 14-month stint at Freddie Mac that required little effort.

As gatekeeper to Obama, Emanuel now plays a critical role in addressing the nation’s mortgage woes and fulfilling the administration’s pledge to impose responsibility on the financial world.

DEMOCRAT SCANDALS March 28, 2009

WASHINGTON TIMES

Jamie Gorelick's wall

Originally published 09:47 p.m., April 15, 2004, updated 12:00 a.m., April 16, 2004

Full article WASHINGTON TIMES

Excerpts:

The disclosure that Jamie Gorelick, a member of the September 11 commission, was personally responsible for instituting a key obstacle to cooperation between law enforcement and intelligence operations before the terrorist attacks raises disturbing questions about the integrity of the commission itself.

Ms. Gorelick should not be cross-examining witnesses; instead, she should be required to testify about her own behavior under oath.

Specifically, commission members need to ask her about a 1995 directive she wrote that made it more difficult for the FBI to locate two of the September 11 hijackers who had already entered the country by the summer of 2001.

Democrat Scandals

On Tuesday, Attorney General John Ashcroft declassified a four-page directive sent by Ms. Gorelick (the No. 2 official in the Clinton Justice Department) on March 4, 1995, to FBI Director Louis Freeh and Mary Jo White, the New York-based U.S. attorney investigating the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. In the memo, Ms. Gorelick ordered Mr. Freeh and Ms.

White to follow information-sharing procedures that "go beyond what is legally required," in order to avoid "any risk of creating an unwarranted appearance" that the Justice Department was using Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants, instead of ordinary criminal investigative procedures, in an effort to undermine the civil liberties of terrorism suspects.

Democrat Scandals

At issue was the oft-noted wall of separation that prevented counterterrorism agents and federal prosecutors from communicating with one another prior to September 11. Information collected under special FISA warrants, which do not require a probable cause, was generally not to be shared with personnel responsible for enforcing federal criminal laws -- where probable cause must be demonstrated for a warrant to be issued.

As lawyers David Rivkin and Lee Casey noted on our Op-Ed page yesterday, the practical effect of the wall was that counterintelligence information was generally kept away from law enforcement personnel who were investigating al Qaeda activities. But Ms. Gorelick's memo clearly indicated that the Clinton administration had decided as a matter of policy to go even beyond the law's already stringent requirements in order to further choke off information sharing.

DEMOCRAT SCANDALS March 27, 2009

WALL STREET JOURNAL

Gorelick's Wall

The Commissioner belongs in the witness chair.

Thursday, April 15, 2004 12:01 A.M. EDT

Full article WALL STREET JOURNAL

Excerpts:

We predicted Democrats would use the 9/11 Commission for partisan purposes, and that much of the press would oblige. But color us astonished that barely anyone appreciates the significance of the bombshell Attorney General John Ashcroft dropped on the hearings Tuesday.

If Jamie Gorelick were a Republican, you can be sure our colleagues in the Fourth Estate would be leading the chorus of complaint that the Commission's objectivity has been fatally compromised by a member who was also one of the key personalities behind the failed antiterror policy that the Commission has under scrutiny. Where's the outrage?

DEMOCRAT SCANDALS

At issue is the pre-Patriot Act "wall" that prevented communication between intelligence agents and criminal investigators--a wall, Mr. Ashcroft said, that meant "the old national intelligence system in place on September 11 was destined to fail." The Attorney General explained:

"In the days before September 11, the wall specifically impeded the investigation into Zacarias Moussaoui, Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi. After the FBI arrested Moussaoui, agents became suspicious of his interest in commercial aircraft and sought approval for a criminal warrant to search his computer. The warrant was rejected because FBI officials feared breaching the wall.

Democrat Scandals

"When the CIA finally told the FBI that al-Midhar and al-Hazmi were in the country in late August, agents in New York searched for the suspects. But because of the wall, FBI headquarters refused to allow criminal investigators who knew the most about the most recent al Qaeda attack to join the hunt for the suspected terrorists.

DEMOCRAT SCANDALS March 26, 2009

VOLOKH CONSPIRACY

[Jim Lindgren, July 14, 2008 at 2:28pm] Trackbacks

Jamie Gorelick's ties to Fannie Mae and What She's Doing Now

Full article VOLOKH CONSPIRACY

Excerpts:

In reading this article about Crony Capitalism at Fannie Mae (tip to Instapundit), I noticed that Jamie Gorelick was one of the Fannie executives who benefited from inflated bonuses based of Enron-style accounting. She was Vice Chairman of Fannie Mae from 1997 to 2003 (Fannie’s fraudulent accounting scheme was made public in 2004).

This is the same Jamie Gorelick who was Deputy Attorney General in the mid 1990s and was reported to have been the author of the Clinton Administration’s WALL against sharing intelligence data between foreign and domestic agencies.

Democrat Scandals

Without the policies instituted by Gorelick still in place in 2001, officials might have learned more about the 9/11 attacks before the planes hit the buildings.

The Wall Street Journal quoted Attorney General Ashcroft on the possible influence of Gorelick's wall:

"In the days before September 11, the wall specifically impeded the investigation into Zacarias Moussaoui, Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi. After the FBI arrested Moussaoui, agents became suspicious of his interest in commercial aircraft and sought approval for a criminal warrant to search his computer. The warrant was rejected because FBI officials feared breaching the wall

DEMOCRAT SCANDALS March 25, 2009

NRO NATIONAL REVIEW ONLIND

The Wall Truth

Gorelick provides the clearest proof yet that she should resign.

April 19, 2004, 8:49 a.m.

Andrew C. McCarthy

Andrew C. McCarthy NRO

Excerpts:

The grandstanding Richard Clarke having made apologies all the rage, one should expect that President Bush and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice will be getting one in the next day or two. Something like this:

Dear Mr. President and Dr. Rice:

Very sorry about all that high dudgeon a couple of weeks ago. You remember, when we couldn't pass a microphone, a pencil, or a camera without perorations about the vital need to have the President waive executive privilege and ignore scads of history so Dr. Rice could be permitted to testify under oath and publicly (and improve our Nielson numbers) to address provocative allegations by another commission fave — er, witness — Richard Clarke.

DEMOCRAT SCANDALS Turns out we should have mentioned that if Condi had just zipped an op-ed over to the Washington Post that would have done the trick. We regret any inconvenience to you, your staff, or the Constitution. Respectfully, the 9/11 Commissioners.

Democrat Scandals

If that note is not forthcoming, then someone's got some explaining to do about "The Truth About 'the Wall,'" Jamie Gorelick's remarkable Washington Post op-ed from Sunday, which purports to put to rest the nettlesome squawking about her untenable position as a commissioner judging the causes of pre-9/11 intelligence failure, a matter in which she was a key participant.

Leaving aside, for a moment, how off-the-wall her account of the wall is, the fact that she well knows she needed to say something is the clearest indication yet that she belongs in the witness chair, not on the commissioners' bench.

DEMOCRAT SCANDALS March 24, 2009

REAL CLEAR POLITICS

September 23, 2008

Raines, Obama and the Media

By Jack Kelly

Full article Jack Kelly REAL CLEAR POLITICS

Excerpts:

...Franklin Raines, CEO of the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) from 1999-2004, is the individual most responsible for the subprime mortgage crisis. It was on Mr. Raines' watch that Fannie Mae went bankrupt.

He was accused of manipulating earnings statements so he could be paid bonuses to which he was not entitled.In July, Mr. Raines was interviewed by Anita Huslin, a business reporter for the Washington Post.

Housing Meltdown

"In the four years since he stepped down as Fannie Mae's chief executive under the shadow of a $6.3 billion accounting scandal, Franklin D. Raines has been quietly constructing a new life for himself," Ms. Huslin's story began.

"He has shaved eight points off his golf handicap, taken a corner office in Steve Case's D.C. conglomeration of finance, entertainment and health care companies and, more recently, taken calls from Barack Obama's presidential campaign seeking his advice on mortgage and housing matters."...

DEMOCRAT SCANDALS March 23, 2009

How Timothy Geithner's Bailout Plan Created the AIG Bonus Scandal

Posted by Chris Bowers

March 19, 2009.

Full article Chris Bowers AlterNet

In order to protect its bailout plan, the Obama administration protected the bonuses.

Back in January and February, there were some votes to try and block excessive employee compensation at financial institutions receiving bailout money.

In the Senate, this took the form of the Snowe amendment, which was supported by all 58 Democrats, and also by three Republicans. In the House, it took the form of the TARP Reform Act, which was favored by 242 Democrats and 18 Republicans. Overall, across the House and the Senate, only 10 Democrats, compared to 193 Republicans, voted against legislation that might have stopped the bonuses.

Unfortunately, despite overwhelming Democratic support for limiting executive compensation, in order to save their public-private partnership bailout plan, the Obama administration worked against these limits:

As word spread Friday about the new and retroactive limit -- inserted by Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut -- so did consternation on Wall Street and in the Obama administration, which opposed it.(...)

DEMOCRAT SCANDALS March 22, 2009

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Many in Government Knew Weeks Ago About A.I.G. Bonuses

By EDMUND L. ANDREWS and JACKIE CALMES

Published: March 19, 2009

Full article EDMUND L. ANDREWS and JACKIE CALMES The New York Times

Excerpts:

WASHINGTON — The question was direct and prescient. Representative Joseph Crowley, Democrat of New York, asked the Treasury secretary in an open hearing what could be done to stop American International Group from paying $165 million in bonuses to hundreds of employees in the very unit that had nearly destroyed the company.

Timothy F. Geithner, the Treasury secretary, responded by saying that executive pay in the financial industry had gotten “out of whack” in recent years, and pledged to crack down on exorbitant pay at companies like A.I.G. that were being bailed out with billons of taxpayer dollars.

The exchange took place before the House Ways and Means Committee on March 3 — one week before Mr. Geithner claims he first learned that the failed insurance company was about to pay a round of bonuses that have since caused a political uproar.

DEMOCRAT SCANDALS March 20, 2009

TOWNHALL.COM

Dodd's political stock tumbles in Connecticut

By ANDREW MIGA

Friday, March 20, 2009

Full article Andrew Miga Townhall.Com

Excerpts:

Democrats may want to start thinking about a bailout for Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, whose political stock has slipped amid the financial meltdown.

As a five-term Democrat who blew out his last two opponents by 2-1 margins in a blue state that President Barack Obama won handily, Dodd, D-Conn., should be cruising to re-election in 2010. Instead, he's feeling heat from a Republican challenger eager to make him a poster boy for the tumult in the housing and financial markets.

A recent poll showed former Rep. Rob Simmons running about even with Dodd, a former national Democratic Party chairman.

As head of the banking panel, Dodd, 64, has become a convenient target for voter anger over the economic crisis.

DEMOCRAT SCANDALS March 19, 2009

MICHELLE MALKIN

John McCain’s AIG bailout revisionism

By Michelle Malkin

March 17, 2009 12:53 PM

Full article Michelle Malkin

Excerpts:

"... A day after he dismissed a federal bailout for American International Group, Republican John McCain announced Wednesday that circumstances had forced him to shift his position and that he supported the proposed $85 billion rescue of the insurance giant.

McCain, who in recent days has slammed what he called Wall Street greed and corruption for causing the latest downward spiral of the stock market, said he had to change his position on AIG to protect millions of Americans who could be hurt if the company was forced to seek bankruptcy protection.

“The government was forced to commit $85 billion,” McCain said in a statement. “These actions stem from failed regulation, reckless management and a casino culture on Wall Street that has crippled one of the most important companies in America...

DEMOCRAT SCANDALS March 19, 2009

FOXNEWS.COM

Rep. Mack Calls for Geithner to Resign or Be Fired Over AIG Bonuses

The Florida Republican becomes the first lawmaker on Capitol Hill to call for the treasury secretary's ouster.

FOXNews.com

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Full article Fox News.Com>/a>

Excerpts:

Florida Republican Rep. Connie Mack called for Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to lose his job Wednesday, becoming the first Capitol Hill lawmaker to call for his ouster over AIG's using tens of millions of taxpayer dollars for executive bonuses.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., later joined in the call Wednesday.

Mack told FOX News that Geithner should resign or the administration should fire him.

"The American people certainly don't see any competence in him. And I think he's got a lot of questions to answer," he said.

DEMOCRAT SCANDALS March 17, 2009

Amid AIG Furor, Dodd Tries to Undo Bonus Protections He Put In

Dodd Also Top Recipient From AIG-$103,100-Obama second $101,332

Dodd Also Tops Money From Fannie and Freddie

FOXBusiness.COM

Rich Edson

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Full article Rich Edson Fox Business.Com

Excerpts:

Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) on Monday night floated the idea of taxing American International Group (AIG) bonus recipients so the government could recoup some or all of the $450 million the company is paying to employees in its financial products unit. Within hours, the idea spread to both houses of Congress, with lawmakers proposing an AIG bonus tax.

The move represents somewhat of an about-face for the Senator.

While the Senate was constructing the $787 billion stimulus last month, Dodd added an executive-compensation restriction to the bill. That amendment provides an “exception for contractually obligated bonuses agreed on before Feb. 11, 2009” -- which exempts the very AIG bonuses Dodd and others are now seeking to tax.

The amendment made it into the final version of the bill, and is law.

Separately, Sen. Dodd was AIG’s largest single recipient of campaign donations during the 2008 election cycle with $103,100, according to opensecrets.org.

DEMOCRAT SCANDALS March 16, 2009

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

MIKE'S AMERICA

Financial Crisis a Democrat Scandal

About Me

Currently living in the South Carolina Lowcountry, Mike has taken a keen interest in politics and government since his days as a young whippersnapper in Ohio.

There, he organized College Republicans clubs, worked as a professional staffer on two statewide campaigns and was elected to the Delaware County Republican Central Committee among other achievements.

In 1986 he began graduate studies in government at Columbia University where he specialized in National Security matters under the tutelage of former National Security Advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski.

Democrat Scandals

Leaving New York in 1988 he moved to Washington, D.C. to become a White House Intern in the Political Office of President Ronald Reagan.

With backing from the first Bush Administration he spent four years at the Environmental Protection Agency. He has lived on Hilton Head since 1996 where he writes, photographs and gardens.

Full article Mike's America

Excerpts:

Democrats have spent more time investigating Sarah Palin than they have the crooks in their own party who are responsible for the financial crisis!

Democrat Scandals

The current financial crisis was sparked by the failure of the huge government backed mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac whose fraudulent accounting practices and willingness to encourage banks to make bad loans to people who could not afford them have undermined faith in the financial sector of the U.S. economy.

Caught in this mess are millions of Americans who have either had their homes foreclosed or whose investments or employment with the affected banks, mortgage companies and investment houses has come crashing down.

All Americans are affected by the downturn in the economy caused by this crisis and leaving taxpayers left to clean up the mess estimated to cost $150 billion or more.

Democrat Scandals March 15, 2009
WALL STREET JOURNAL

Waters Helped Bank Whose Stock She Once Owned

California Democrat Has Championed Minority-Owned OneUnited on Capitol Hill and Criticized Its Government Regulators

MARCH 12, 2009

By SUSAN SCHMIDT

Full article Wall Street Journal

Excerpts:

WASHINGTON -- When Rep. Barney Frank was looking to aid a Boston-based lender last fall, the Massachusetts Democrat urged Maxine Waters, a colleague on the House Financial Services Committee, to "stay out of it," he says.

The reason: Ms. Waters, a longtime congresswoman from California, had close ties to the minority-owned institution, OneUnited Bank.

Ms. Waters and her husband have both held financial stakes in the bank. Until recently, her husband was a director. At the same time, Ms. Waters has publicly boosted OneUnited's executives and criticized its government regulators during congressional hearings. Last fall, she helped secure the bank a meeting with Treasury officials.

From: Hot Air

Maxine Waters intervened with regulators to protect personal investment

posted at 10:48 am on March 13, 2009 by Ed Morrissey

Ed Morrissey Hot Air

Excerpts:

Rep. Maxine Waters, one of Los Angeles’ most enduring liberal politicians, has come under scrutiny because of bailout funds that went to a bank in which her husband had owned stock and served on the board.

Democrat Scandals

Waters was a senior member of the congressional committee dealing with the financial crisis when OneUnited Bank — one of the nation’s largest minority-owned institutions — received $12 million in bailout funds.

Her husband, Sidney Williams, served on the bank board until early last year and held at least $500,000 in investments in the bank in 2007, the most recent year for which public financial disclosure statements are available.

DEMOCRAT SCANDALS March 11, 2009

PAJAMAS MEDIA

Follow the (Democratic) Money: A Scandal Guide

The "culture of corruption" brought down the GOP in 2006.

Republicans hope the same will be true in 2010 for Democrats.

December 15, 2008 - by Jennifer Rubin

Full article Jennifer Rubin PAJAMA MEDIA

Excerpts:

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were told by Deep Throat in Watergate, “Follow the money.” That’s good advice today as we unravel the burgeoning number of political scandals. There certainly is plenty of money to follow.

We can start with one of the star players in Big Labor, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The average voter probably never heard of the SEIU until the Blagojevich scandal. A top SEIU official, reported to be Tom Balanoff, was caught on tape wheeling and dealing with Blago on the Senate seat.

Democrat Scandals

The media has largely ignored this aspect of the story — or the hundreds of millions that the union has given to lawmakers.

Why should this matter, aside from a potential criminal problem for the official (who reportedly got a visit from the FBI)? Remember the advice: follow the money.

A pro-business group called Americans for Job Security laid it out in a handy ad with the header “Connect The Dots, Chicago Style” in the Washington Post:

DEMOCRAT SCANDALS March 10, 2009

Congress Lies Low To Avoid Bailout Blame

By TERRY JONES

INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY

Posted Thursday, September 18, 2008 4:30 PM PT

Congress says it likely will adjourn this month having done nothing on the most important issue in America right now: the financial meltdown from the subprime lending crisis.

Full article INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY

Excerpts:

"...Funny, since it was a Democrat-led Congress that helped cause the problems in the first place.

When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently barked "no" at reporters for daring to ask if Democrats deserved any blame for the meltdown, you saw denial in action.

Pelosi and her followers would have you believe this all happened because of President Bush and his loyal Senate lapdog, John McCain. Or that big, bad predatory Wall Street banks deserve all the blame.

"The American people are not protected from the risk-taking and the greed of these financial institutions," Pelosi said recently, as she vowed congressional hearings.

Only one problem: It's untrue..."

DEMOCRAT SCANDALS March, 2009

WALL STREET JOURNAL

The Greatest Scandal

JULY 28, 2008 Full article Wall Street Journal

Excerpts:

The profound failure of inner-city public schools to teach children may be the nation's greatest scandal. The differences between the two Presidential candidates on this could hardly be more stark. John McCain is calling for alternatives to the system; Barack Obama wants the kids to stay within that system. We think the facts support Senator McCain.

"Parents ask only for schools that are safe, teachers who are competent and diplomas that open doors of opportunity," said Mr. McCain in remarks recently to the NAACP. "When a public system fails, repeatedly, to meet these minimal objectives, parents ask only for a choice in the education of their children." Some parents may opt for a better public school or a charter school; others for a private school. The point, said the Senator, is that "no entrenched bureaucracy or union should deny parents that choice and children that opportunity."

Mr. McCain cited the Washington, D.C., Opportunity Scholarship Program, a federally financed school-choice program for disadvantaged kids signed into law by President Bush in 2004. Qualifying families in the District of Columbia receive up to $7,500 a year to attend private K-12 schools. To qualify, a child must live in a family with a household income below 185% of the poverty level. Some 1,900 children participate; 99% are black or Hispanic. Average annual income is just over $22,000 for a family of four.




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